Sunday, 6 February 2011

Last week, I came across this link announcing that a gay movie produced and shot in Tanzania will premier on 4 February 2011.

The said movie starring Tino [Hissan Muya] a popular Tanzanian actor is aptly titled ‘Shoga’. In Kenyan Swahili, 'shoga' is a derogatory word for homosexual but in pure swahili spoken in Tanzania, the word ‘shoga’ is used to denote a very close friend. This movie however is gay themed and features the actor in drag.

'Tino'

If you understand Kiswahili, you will note that the comments from Tanzanians are as you would expect from Kenya. One person says that this film will encourage the youth to adopt western lifestyles. Another person asks the government to step in and stop the screening of the movie whilst insults towards Tino appear with even others saying they will never buy his movies.

This is a bold step from the movie makers as Tanzania is much more conservative than its neighbors and I would have expected this from a Kenyan film maker.